Dr. Samuel Barton

I am interested in understanding the phenotypic responses of phytoplankton to warming, over both acute and long-term adaptive timescales, and the implications for carbon cycling in the ocean. With this in mind, I am also interested in techniques to improve our in-situ monitoring of phytoplankton communities.

As a member of Prof. Schaum’s Plankton Ecology and Evolution group,
I am working on the ‘GreenHAB’ project. GreenHAB – BMBF Project: Polar regions in transition.

For this project we will be investigating the evolutionary potential of harmful algal bloom (HAB) species isolated from Disko Bay (Greenland) in response to both warming and reduced salinity. This involves combining long-term experimental evolution studies in the laboratory, with competition experiments in the field.

Our involvement on this project is part of a broader collective effort with the project partners, to improve our understanding and predictions of HAB species in Greenland and to transfer the acquired knowledge to Greenlandic society.

2020 – 2024 University of Oxford, Postdoctoral Researcher, Oxford Martin School Monitoring Ocean Ecosystems Programme

2019 – 2020 University of Hamburg, Postdoctoral Researcher

2014 – 2019 University of Exeter, Doctoral Candidate

Academic education

2011 – 2013 University of Exeter, MSc Climate Change and Risk Management

2008 – 2011 University of Exeter, BSc Physical Geography